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REPORTS OF FOREIGN SOCIETIES 



ON AWAKDINfi 



MEDALS 



American Arctic Explorers, 



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KANE, HAYES, HALL. 



4 

A 

U. S. Naval Observatory. 
1876. 




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INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 



By the approval of Rear- Admiral C.TL Davis, Superin- 
tendent of the Naval Observatory, the reports which follow 
are presented at the International Exhibition of 1876 in con- 
nection with the historic collections exhibited by the Ob- 
servatory, as illustrative of American Arctic exploration.* 
The Observatory is related to these explorations by its 
counsel and assistance given to them; and by the prepa- 
ration of the narrative of the Polaris Expedition by the 
present Superintendent. 

Special interest must cling to these several American 
expeditions. They have each gone forth within the last 
quarter of our century under the conduct of men of strong 
heroism. And when anxiet}^ was aroused at home through 
the long absence of some of these, the expeditions for their 
relief were led by naval officers of like sterling qualities. 

Each leader of these expeditions sympathized with and 
shared more or less directly in the search for the gallant 
Franklin. Through the endurance of extreme hardships, 
each made additions of high value to the world's knowledge 
of the inhospitable regions of the Pole ; two have passed 
into history, victims of the severe exposures to which they 
were subjected. 

The two distinguished geographical societies of Europe 
have vied with each other in acknowledging the merits of 
our explorers. The reports of their awards are here given 
in chronological order. The kindly feeling stirred by the 

* See page 5. 
3 



noble generosity of the Grinnell expeditions, supported 
by the aid of the United States, was openlj' expressed by 
testimonials from the English Government itself, and from 
English residents in the United States. 

Traditional amicable feeling from France towards the 
United States will be found very pleasantly referred to in 
the responses of the American Resident Ministers on receiv- 
ing the medals at the sessions of the French Society, for 
transmission home to the explorers. 

The three French awards, the last of which seems, if one 
may be permitted so to say, perhaps the most graceful and 
tender — as it touches the most recent of our losses — Hall 
and the Polaris — are given with an additional free English 
dress, which has been ventured upon, further to revive the 
memories of these expeditions at this Centennial era. The 
resolutions of the House of Representatives in testimony 
of Kane's labors, with those of the legislatures of Penn- 
sylvania and New Jersey, will be found at the close of 
these Reports of Awards. New York passed similar reso- 
lutions, and conferred a gold medal. Resolutions of like 
import in regard to our other expeditions, it is believed, 
were passed; but, unfortunately, they have not been found. 

Electrotypes of the medals to Kane, Hayes, and Hall; 
of the Kane medal from the State of New York ; of the 
" Queen's Medal" as received by Kane and Bonsall, with 
others of Kane's companions; and of the medal presented 
by the British residents of New York to the late Henry 
Grinnell ; are part of the Arctic collection made under the 
sanction of the Chief of the Bureau of Navigation for the 
Centennial. The resolutions of Congress have never been 
carried out. No appropriation for the purpose was se- 
cured. 

The presence at this hour of the best equipped Arctic 
expedition ever sent out, in the very regions first visited 



by our explorers, certainly invests all of their past his- 
tory with the highest interest. For there is matter of 
national pride to us in this — that if most happily the Eng- 
lish expedition successfully solve the problem of the Pole, 
that success will be all the more sincerely appreciated by 
Americans, since the English will have followed the route 
opened up under the American flag ; but if the problem 
must, despite of their equipment and fidelity to the work, 
yet remain unsolved, our American explorers must still 
continue accredited with having accomplished very much 
of value toward its final success. 



J. E. NOUKSE, 

Prof., U. 8. N. 



U. S. Naval Observatory, 

May lOtli, 1876. 



The Arctic collections referred to in this note have been cordially 
furnished by the friends of our explorations. Amongst those thus repre- 
senting their interest in the De Haven and Kane Expeditions are Mr. K. 
M. Grinnell, Mr. J. C. Brevoort, General and Mrs. T. L. Kane, Mr. E, P. 
Kane, Mr. E. Patterson, Mr. F. J. Dreer, Mr. G. W. Childs, (by whose 
care Kane's boat Faith has been preserved, ) Mr. H. J. Taylor ; and Mr. 
Amos Bonsall of the second Grinnell Expedition. 

The work of Captain Hall is represented by relics, of Frobisher's, 
Parry's, Franklin's, and Kae's Expeditions brought back by him and 
now loaned by the Smithsonian Institution ; by his Journals and Notes, 
including some made on his last sledge journey : by the collection of min- 
erals made by Dr. Emil Bessels; the log of the Polaris; the journal of 
Captain Budington and that of Captain Tyson on the ice floe ; the notes 
kept by Mr. Bryan, astonomer of the Polaris, and by some of the crew ; 
and by contributions from the officers of the relief ships Tigress, Juniata, 
and the little Juniata. The oil paintings illustrative of " The Narrative 
of the Polaris Expedition " were executed by Mr. H. J. Morgan, under the 
direction of Eear-Admiral Davis. 

Efforts have been made to link to this Centennial Memorial all of those 
directly interested in our Expeditions. 

By the coiu-teous offices of M. V. A. Malte-Brun, tbe electrotypes of the 
French medals were struck for the Superintendent at the Mint of France. 
A photograph of the Kane medal, from the Koyal Geographical Society of 
London, will be found with the Kane collection. 



6 

Other contributors to the Arctic Collection have been : The American 
Geographical Society of New York ; Mr. W. Bradford ; Captain D. L. 
Braine, U. S. N.; Rev. E. D. Bryan; Master S. P. Comly, U. S. N.; Mr. 
J. J. Copp ; C. F. Delano, Naval Constructor, U. S. N.; Ebierbing, (Es- 
quimaux "Joe,") and wife, Tookoolito, ("Hannah"); Mrs. C. F. Hall; 
Mr. H. P. Haven ; Colonel James Lupton ; Lieutenant S. H. May, U. S. 
N.; Mr. Wni. Morton; Eev. J. P. Newman, D. D.; H. E. Rhoades, 
Assistant Engineer, U. S. N. ; Mr. E. Schumann. 



AWARDS 



No. I. — Presentation of the Royal Award to E. K. Kane, 1856 9 

Address of Admiral Beecky, R. N.; Reply of U. S. Minister 
Dallas 9-11 

No. II. —Report to the Geographical Society of Paris, awarding 

the Prize to Dr. Kane, 1858 13 

No. III. — Presentation of the Patron's Gold Medal of Royal 
Geographical Society, London, to Dr. I. I. Hayes, 

1867 27 

Address of Sir R. I. Murchison, President of the Royal Geo- 
graphical Society ; Reply of U. S. Minister, Hon. C. F. 
Adams 27-30 

No. IV. — Report to the Geographical Society of Paris, awarding 

a Medal to Dr. Hayes, 1869 31-49 

No. V. — Address of U. S. Minister Dix, on receiving the medal from 

the Geographical Society of Paris 50-53 

No. VI. — Award of the Roquette Prize to Captain C. F. Hall, by 

the Geographical Society of Paris 55 



ADDENDA. 

Resolution of the House of Representatives, April 16, 1856, ordering 
medals to be struck for Kane and his officers 67 

Resolutions of the Legislatures of Pennsylvania and New Jersey 68-70 

7 



I. 
THE MEDAL TO DR. KANE 

FVoii) the fjoyal Gjeogi'apliical Society of L/ondon,. 



PKESENTATION 



OF 



The Royal Award to Elisha Kent Kane, M. D. 
May 26, 1856.* 



His Excellency G. M. Dallas, Minister of the United 
States of America, having consented to receive the gold 
medal awarded to Dr. Kane, the President of the Societ}', 
Rear- Admiral Beechy, addressed him as follows : 

Sir : The founder's gold medal, the highest honor this 
Society has it in its power to bestow, has been awarded to 
Dr. Kane, of the United States of America, for his distin- 
guished services and important discoveries in the Polar 
regions, while in charge of the expedition fitted out in 
America to search for Sir John Franklin ; and for his 
valuable memoir and charts, communicated through the 
Admiralty. 

In the absence of Dr. Kane himself, I could desire no 
greater privilege than that of confiding the award Dr. 
Kane has so justly deserved to the hands of the distin- 
guished representative of the nation to which he belongs, 
in order that the feeling of this Society, and I may say of 
the country at large, ma} r go forth in its fullest extent 
to the land which enrols the name of Dr. Kane among her 
citizens. Sir, I cannot discharge this duty without passing 
a remark on the peculiarity of the circumstances attending 
this occasion. 

* Joiu-nal of the Royal Geographical Society for the year 185t>. 



10 

It seldom happens that nations so distantly situated 
spontaneously unite in such acts of humanity as those 
which have characterized the late search for Sir J. Frank- 
lin. More rarely still do we find the sympathies of 
individuals so enlisted in the fate of foreigners as to 
manifest themselves in acts of philanthropy of such a 
truly liberal and substantial character as have here oc- 
curred ; and this act of the United States, together with 
the names of Grinnell and Peabody, will long be remem- 
bered in this country, even after the spirit of Arctic enter- 
prise shall have passed away. But, sir, if the feelings of 
nations have been deeply enlisted in this search, how much 
more so must have been the feelings of individuals, who 
enjoyed the friendship of the object of it? Sir, there are 
persons now present who were early associated with our 
lamented countryman, who shared with him his first peril- 
ous encounter with that icy element which was afterwards 
to become his tomb, and who enjoyed his friendship through 
life. 

As one of these, you may imagine that it is with no small 
degree of interest that I find myself now, in my official 
capacity, conveying this award of the Society to the officer 
who so strenuously endeavored to determine the fate of 
him whom we all so deeply deplore. 

These sympathies, however, have had no share in the 
decision of the Council. Dr. Kane's merits alone have 
won for him this testimony of the Society ; and I trust that 
these reciprocal acts of good feeling between nations and 
individuals may tend to bind in lasting ties of amity these 
two great nations, whose sympathies have been shown to 
be so closely identified. 

m 

His Excellency the American Minister, having received 
the medal, replied : 

Mr. President: On behalf of my fellow-citizen, Dr. 
Elisha Kent Kane, I receive, with equal pride and pleas- 
ure, this testimonial, awarded by your learned body, to his 
ability and services in that branch of human knowledge to 
which you are specially devoted. 

His country also, even now engaged in expressing her 



11 

high sense of his deserts, will be gratified to learn that her 
judgment, which might possibly be ascribed to partiality, 
has been thus sanctioned. 

Young as he yet is, and fairly entitled to count upon 
many years of zealous intellectual activity, he can never 
achieve a prouder recognition, considered in all its aspects, 
than this medal of the Royal Geographical Society of 
London. 

Dr. Kane, as is personally known to me, entered upon 
his career of Arctic exploration under the influence of sen- 
timents which were strengthened, rather than shaken, by 
its depicted terrors. In the Medical Department of the 
Navy of the United States, on a remote station, his Govern- 
ment scarcely intimated a disposition to join in the search 
for Sir John Franklin before he hurried forward to volun- 
teer an enlistment for that noble purpose. There was 
a voice upon the breeze that had caught his ear ; an ardent 
fondness for scientific studies impelled him to a fresh field 
of research; a daring and irrepressible spirit of enterprise 
co-operated with much experience and peculiar attainments. 
He went — he went twice; and, though he vainly offered 
his own life to rescue another's, he brought back with him 
observations, verifications, discoveries, and delineations 
worthy to be accepted by the masters of geographical sci- 
ence. If, as I believe was the case, he penetrated to and 
actually beheld the ice-encircled yet open sea, whose exist- 
ence had been predicated of the periodical northern flight 
of aquatic birds, of certain currents, and of other indicia, 
he may justly feel that the practical solution of an inter- 
esting problem has earned the honor of your approbation. 

I do not wish, Mr. President, to eulogize my country- 
man. You are far more competent than myself to appre- 
ciate the exact value of what he has effected. Your Council 
have affixed to his record this their great seal ; and at 
your invitation, and with alacrity, I assume the grateful 
task of transmitting it safely to his hands. 



II. 
RAPPORT 

SUB LE 

Concours au prix annuel pour la clecouverte la plus 
importante en Geographie. 

SOCIETE DE GEOGRAPHIE DE PARIS. 

Comrnissaires, MM. d'Avezac, Jomaed, Malte Beun, Alfeed 
Mauey ; et Daussy, — Rapporteur. 

Assemblee generate du 23 Avril, 1858. 



II. 

REPORT 



^e Competition for" tl\e Pfi^e for" tl\e n\o$t important 
f)i$dovery in G^eo^rapljy. 

GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY OF PARIS. 

Messrs. d'Avezac, Jomaed, Malte Betjn, A. Mauby, and Daussy, 
Committee; 

Daussy presenting the report. 
General Session of the Society, April 23, 1858. 

13 



RAPPORT SUR LE CONCOURS AU PRIX ANNUEL 

POUR LA 

DECOUVERTE la plus IMPORTANTE en GEOGRAPHIE. 
Assemblee generate du 23 Avril, 1858. 



Le Dr. Kane qui deja, en 1850, avait fait partie d'une 
expedition envoyee par M. Grinnell sous la direction du 
capitaine de Haven a la recherche de Franklin, s'est elance 
encore une fois dans cette earriere perilleuse. Cette fois 
c'etait lui qui *etait charge de la direction de l'expedition 
fretee coinme laprecedente par M. Grinnell. Les observa- 
tions qu'il avait faites dans son premier voyage et l'explo- 
ration du capitaine Ingletield an fond de la baie de Baffin, 
lui persuadaient que, de nieine que le detroit de Lancaster 
explore plus attentivement avait donne entree dans des 
mers interieures qui separent en nombreuses iles les terrcs 
qui s'etendent jusqu'a l'oceau Arctique, le detroit de Smith 
dans leqnel le capitaine Inglefield avait deja penetre assez 
avant devait communiquer avec la iner Polaire et faire du 
Groenland uu groupe d'iles s'avancant au loin vers le pole. 
L'opinion mise en avant de l'existence sus le pole ineme 
d'un vaste bassin dans lequel Franklin aurait pu penetrer, 
lui donnait encore l'espoir de trouver ses traces clans ces 
parages inexplores, et peut-etre meme le sauver. 

Ce fut le 30 mai 1853 que le Dr. Kane partit de New- 
York sur le brick V Advance qui avait ete dispose pour 
supporter autant que possible le choc des glaces. Le pre- 
mier juillet il atterrissait sur la cute du Groenland a 



REPORT ON THE COMPETITION FOR THE ANNUAL PRIZE 

FOR THE 

MOST IMPORTANT DISCOVERY IN GEOGRAPHY. 
General Session of the Society, Paris, April 23, 1858. 



Dr. Kane, who, in the year 1850, had taken part in 
the expedition sent by Mr. Grinnell, under the command 
of Captain De Haven, to seek for Franklin, a second 
time set out on a like perilous enterprise. He was now 
himself in command of an expedition fitted out, as was the 
preceding one, by Mr. Grinnell. The observations which 
he had made in his first voyage and the exploration of 
Captain Inglefield, R. N., at the head of Baffin's bay, had 
convinced him that since Lancaster sound when more care- 
fully explored had opened up interior seas, separating into 
numerous islands the laifd which extended there toward 
the Arctic ocean, Smith's sound, also, into which Captain 
Inglefield had entered, would be found communicating 
with the Polar ocean, making of Greenland itself a group 
of islands, extending themselves a long distance toward 
the Pole. The opinion previously advanced of the exist- 
ence under the Pole itself of a vast basin into which 
Franklin might have penetrated, gave Dr. Kane a hope of 
still finding his tracks in these unexplored latitudes, and 
perhaps of rescuing him. 

On the 30th of May, 1853, Dr. Kane set out from New 
York in the brig Advance, which had been strengthened 
as much as possible to resist the force of the ice. On the 
1st of Jul}' he touched on the Greenland coast, at Fisker- 



16 

Fiskernses apres y avoir pris quelques provisions et em- 
barque un Esquimaux qui pouvait leur etre (rune grande 
utilite par l'habitude qu'il avait de ccs contrees, on longea 
la cote occidentale de ces terres an milieu de montagnes 
de glaces. A ia fin de juillet l'expedition atteignait la 
baie Melville, et entrait le 7 aout dans le detroit de Smith 
oii Ton visitait Pile Littleton, et le cap Hatterton, derniers 
points determines par le capitaine Inglefield par des ob~ 
servations directes. 

Apres avoir lutte penibleinent contre les courants et les 
glaces qui encombrent le detroit qu'il voulait remonter, 
apres avoir fait lui-meme une excursion en traineau j usque 
par 78° 50' de latitude afin de s'assurer de Pimpossibilite 
de conduire plus avant son batiment, le Dr. Kane fut en fin 
oblige a chercher un abri oii il put passer avec securite 
Phiver qui s'avancait rapidement. Ce fut dans le fond de 
la baie Rensselaer qu'il le conduisit ; la, par 78° 37' de 
latitude V Advance fut enfermee dans les glaces dont elle 
ne devait plus se degager. 

Nous ne chercherons pas a vous faire connaitre toutes 
les soufFrances qu'eurent a endurer nos voyage urs dans un 
climat aussi affreux, et pendant Une absence du soleil qui 
dura pres de trois mois; nous n'oublierons pas que nous 
sommes ici une Societe s'occupant specialement des progres 
de la geographic Laissant done de cote tout ce qui clans le 
recit du Dr. Kane pourrait emouvoir la sensibilite,.nons ne 
nous occuperons que des travaux scientifiques qui ont ete 
executes pendant cette expedition et qui tendent a aug- 
menter nos connaissances de ces climats srlaces. 

L'absence de la lumiere n'interrompit point les observa- 
tions journalieres, et un observatoire magnetique etabli a 
peu de distance du navire permit de suivre assidiiment les 
phenomenes magnetiques et meteorologiques. 

Aussitot <^ue le retour du soleil sur Phorizon et une 



17 

rices, and having taken on board provisions and an Esqui- 
maux, who would be of great use by his knowledge of 
these countries, he made his way along the western coasts 
in the midst of the icebergs. At the end of July the 
expedition reached Melville bay, and on the 7th of August 
entered Smith's sound, visiting Littleton island and Cape 
Hatterton, the furthest points which had been determined 
by Capt. Inglefield by direct observations. 

After laboriously struggling against the currents and the 
ice which covered the strait he was seeking to enter, and 
after having himself made a sledge journey as high as about 
78° 50', in order to satisfy himself whether it would be 
impossible for his ship to advance further, Dr. Kane was 
obliged to seek a shelter where lie could securely pass the 
rapidly approaching winter. This he found at the entrance 
of Rensselaer bay, in about 78° 37', where the Advance 
was closed in by the ice, from which she could not again 
free herself. 

We will not attempt to set before you all the sufferings 
which our explorers had to endure in a climate so rigorous 
during an absence of the sun lasting nearly three months ; 
we will not forget that we are here as a Society specially 
concerned with the progress of Geography. Passing over, 
then, all in Dr. Kane's narrative which would touch our 
feelings, we will consider only the scientific labors per- 
formed by this expedition, which tend to increase our 
knowledge of these icy regions. 

The absence of light did not interrupt the daily observa- 
tions ; a magnetic observatory established a little distance 
from the ship permitted the careful notice of magnetic and 
meteorological phenomena. With the return of the sun 
upon the horizon and of a less severe temperature, which 



18 

temperature moins apre permit de penser a poursuivre les 
reeherches, des expeditions furent organisees pour visiter, 
au moyen de traineaux conduits par des chiens, les cotes 
que l'on voyait dans l'ouest et dans le nord. Joignaut 
toujours a leurs investigations pour tacher de decouvrir 
quelques traces de l'expedition de Franklin, tout ce qui 
ponvait donner les moyens de determiner d'une maniere 
aussi exacte que possible la delineation des cotes qu'ils 
parcouraient, nos voyageurs emportaient soigneusement 
avec eux les instruments necessaires pour determiner leur 
position et pour obtenir des relevements exacts sur les 
points en vue dont ils ne ponvaient pas approcher. C'est 
ainsi qu'on a des observations de latitude faites au sextant 
et a l'horizon artifieiel jusque par 80° 41' nord. 

La determination precise, tant en latitude qu'en longi- 
tude, du point ou V Advance a passe deux hivers a ete 
obtenue par de nombreuses observations qui ne laissent 
aucun doute sur son exactitude. Les derniers points ob- 
serves au nord par 82° 30' de latitude ne presentent sans 
doute pas la m§me certitude, mais ils n'en sont pas moins, 
dans la limite des errenrs possibles, une acquisition tres 
importante pour la connaissance de cette partie du globe. 

La remarque qui parait la plus interessante dans cette 
exploration, c'est sans doute Pexistence d'une mer libre de 
glaces dans ces hautes latitudes, telle qu'elle a ete con 
statee par l'expedition conduite par M. Morton qui par- 
vint le 25 juin 1854 au cap Constitution par la latitude de 
81° 22' d ; ou Ton apercevait a toute distance dans le nord 
une mer libre dans laquelle la vague paraissait venir du 
nord et traverser le canal comme si elle provenait d'une 
ouverture sitnee vers le nord-est. Cette ouverture dn canal 
auquel les geograplies se sont pin a donner le nom de mer 
de Kane, et qui est situe entre l'extremite nord du Green- 
land et les terres d'Amerique que Kane a appelees Victoria 



19 

Buffered them to pursue their researches, expeditious were 
organized to visit by sledges drawn by dogs, the shores 
which were seen on the west and north. 

Always joining with these expeditions in search of some 
traces of Franklin's expedition, everything which could 
give them the means of determining in the most exact 
manner, the delineation of the coasts along which they, 
were passing, our travellers carried carefully with them 
the instruments necessary to determine their position and 
the exact bearings of those points in sight which they could 
not reach. With a sextant and artificial horizon, they thus 
obtained observations of latitude as far as 80° 41' N. 



The precise determination, both of latitude and longitude, 
of the point where the Advance passed two winters, was 
fixed by a number of observations, leaving no doubt of its cor- 
rectness. The highest points observed towards the north — 
about 82° 30' — do not offer the same unquestionable exact- 
ness, but, while within the limits of possible errors, they 
are still a very important addition to our knowledge of this 
part of the globe. 

The most interesting statement made by this expedition 
is, certainly, the existence of a sea free of ice in these high 
latitudes. Such was reported to have been seen by the 
party led by Morton, reaching on the 25th of June, 1854, 
Cape Constitution, in the latitude of about 81° 22', from 
which point he saw along the whole extent toward the 
north an open sea, in which the swell appeared to come 
from the north and to pass through the channel, as if they 
proceeded from an opening toward the northeast. The 
existence of this open channel, to which geographers have 
chosen to give the name of Kane's sea, and which is 
situated between the north point of Greenland and the 



20 

et Albert, est encore corroboree pur le fait, d'un courant 
tres fort qui a ete observe dans ce canal et qu'on estime 
etre de 4 a 5 noeuds. 

Apres le retour de cette expedition a bord de V Advance, 
une autre fut dirigee vers l'ouest et le sud-ouest, pour voir 
s'il ne serait pas possible de gagner le detroit de Jones et 
celui de Lancaster, mais apres les plus grands efforts, on 
dut encore renoncer a cet espoir et se resigner a passer un 
second hiver dans les glaces. Pour adoucir un pen leur 
position on entra en relations avec un etablissement d'Es- 
quimaux, situe un pen plus an sud, chez lesquels on put 
se procurer quelques vivres. 

En 1855, an retour du printemps, si toutefois on pent 
donner ce nora a une saison dans laquelle le soleil se fait 
voir, il est vrai, mais ou la temperature encore de beaucoup 
au-dessous de zero, ne pent arriver a separer les enormes 
masses de glaces qui obstruent tons les passages, de 
nouvelles tentatives furent faites pour degager le brick, 
mais inutilement. II n'etait pas possible de songer a' 
passer un troisieme biver dans les glaces, le combustible 
commencait a s'epuiser et plusieurs malades etaient dans 
un etat dangereux. II n'y avait done d'autre ressource 
pour gagner le sud que de trainer sur la glace les embar- 
kations que l'on devait remettre a l'eau aussitot que l'on 
serait parvenu a la limite cles glaces fixes. 

Ce fut le 20 mai 1855 que l'on abandonna enfin le brick 
Le 19 juin on quittait les glaces et l'on s'ernbarquait dans 
trois petites cmbarcations pour gagner les etablissements 
danois dont on atteignait le plus septentrional, Upperna- 
vik, le 4 aout, apres une navigation perilleuse de quaraute- 
cinq jours. 

Un batiment danois qui s'j trouvait, recut nos voya«-eurs 
et les conduisit a Godbavn on Lievclj sur l'ile de Disco ■ 
apres un sejour de pres d'nn mois dans ce lieu, ils etaient 



21 

American coasts, named by Katie, "Victoria and Albert,"' 1 
is confirmed by the fact of a very strong current in the 
channel, estimated to be from 4 to 5 knots. 

After the return of tin's expedition to the Advance, 
another was sent out to the west and southwest, to see if 
it were not possible to reach Jones' and Lancaster sounds ; 
but, after the most strenuous efforts, they were obliged to 
give up this hope, and to pass a second winter in the ice. 
To improve their situation a little, they established inter- 
course with an Esquimaux settlement situated a little 
further south, from which they could procure provisions. 

In 1855, on the return of spring, (if one may give that 
name to a season in which the sun, indeed, shows himself, 
but with a temperature still so far below zero as not to 
separate the enormous ice masses blocking up all the chan- 
nels,) new attempts were made to free the vessel, but in 
vain. They could not think of passing a third winter in 
the ice, for their fuel was beginning to fail, and several of 
the sick were in a dangerous state. They had, then, no 
other resource, in order to reach the south, than to drag 
over the ice the boats which they could again launch as 
soon as they should pass the limit of the solid ice mass. 

On the 20th of May, 1855, they took final leave of their 
vessel. On the 19th of June they embarked in three small 
boats for the Danish settlements, the most northern of 
which, Upernavik, they reached on the 4th of August, 
after a perilous navigation of forty-five days.* 

A Danish vessel, which happened to be there, took our 

* The boat Faith, one of these three, which was pushed by Kane's 
party 80 miles to the limits of the ice field, and in which the party thence 
made 1,000 miles to Disco, is on exhibition at the Centennial. — [May 10, 
1876.] 



22 

sur le point de s'embarquer sur le memo batiment qui 
retonrnait en Europe, lorsque la barque Release et le 
vapeur Artie, envoyes par le gouvernement des Etats- 
Unis a la recherche de Kane et de ses' compagnons, et qui 
s'etaient avances au milieu des glaces jusqu'au cap Hatter- 
ton, parurent a l'entree du port, et nos intrepides voyageurs, 
heureux de rencontrer des compatriotes, s'embarquerent sur 
ces batiments pour revenir a New Fork ou ils arriverent 
le 11 octobre. 

Tel est en peu de mots le resume de l'expedition du Dr. 
Kane dans les mers arctiques ; entreprise dans une inten- 
tion humanitaire que nous appreeions tons, et pour venir 
au secours s'il etait possible d'une grande infortune a 
laquelle la Societe et le monde tout entier a pris un si 
grand interet, elle a failli elle-meme etre victime de son 
devouement etde l'aprete* des regions qu'elle allait explorer; 
mais echappee a cet affreux malheur et n'ayant perdu qu'un 
petit nombre de ses membres, elle a rapporte des travaux 
importants sur des points dont on ne pent guere esperer 
obtenir de frequentes relations. Les recherches scien- 
tifiques n'ont ete negligees en rien, et la geographie aussi 
bien que la physique du globe trouvent dans la relation 
qui en a ete publiee, des documents d'un grand interet. 
L'existence permanente d'une mer libre dans ces parages 
ne doit sans doute pas etre adoptee sans un exameu plus 
approfondi, puisque Kane lui-meme remarque que le capi- 
taine Inglefield avait annonce un bassin polaire entierement 
libre de glaces, la ou des glaces lixes avaient l'annee sui- 
vante arrete la marche de 1 : 'Advance, et nous citerons 
egalement que vers le pole sud le capitaine Weddel avait 
penetre en 1823 jusqu'a 74° de latitude, tandis qu'en 1838 
Dumont-D'Urville trouvait une barriere de gla ( ;es infran- 
chissable par 65°. Mais on pent conclure stirement de la 



23 

travellers on board, and brought them to Godhaven, near 
Lievly, on Disco island. After a delay of about a month 
in this place, they were about embarking in this ship on 
her return to Europe, when the barque Release and the 
steamer Arctic, dispatched by the United States Govern 
merit to seek them, and which had got through the ice as 
far as Cape Hatterton, appeared at the entrance of the port, 
and our intrepid voyagers, happy in being recognized 
by their fellow-countrymen, embarking in these vessels, 
reached New York on the 11th of October. 

Such, in brief, is the resume of the expedition of Dr. 
Kane in the Arctic regions ; an enterprise of that benevo- 
lent design which we all appreciate, to carry assistance, if 
possible, to that great unfortunate expedition in w 7 hich this 
Society and the whole world have so great an interest. The 
expedition nearly became the victim of its own devotion 
and of the hardships of the regions which it set out to ex- 
plore; yet escaping from the worst of evils, and losing but 
a small number of its members, it- has brought back im- 
portant results on points as to which we may scarcely hope 
to obtain frequent accounts. Scientific researches were not 
in anywise neglected, and geography and the physics of 
the globe find in the report, which has been published, 
narrations of great interest. The permanent existence of 
an open sea in those regions certainly cannot be accepted 
without a more thorough exploration, since Kane himself 
remarks that Capt. Inglefield had announced a Polar sea 
entirely free from ice, where, in the following year, com- 
pact masses arrested the course of the Advance ; and we 
must remind you, also, that towards the South Pole, Capt. 
Weddel, in 1823, penetrated as far as 74° S. latitude, 
while in 1838, Dumont D'Urville found an impassable 
barrier at about 63°. Yet one may safely conclude that 
the ice masses separate themselves, and sometimes leave a 



24 

que les glaces se deplacent en grandes masses, laissont 
quelquefois un libre passage la oil a quelques annees de 
difference on ne trouve qn'nne immense etendue de places 
solides. 

Les travaux du Dr. Kane ne sont pas moins d'une grande 
importance en nous faisant connaitre une partie tres notable 
de la cote nord du Groenland et des terres qui lui font face 
dans l'ouest. Aussi votre commission n'a-t-elle pas hesite 
a lui decerner le prix pour la decouverte la plus importante 
pour l'annee 1855. 

Malheureusement, Messieurs, c'est sur une tombe que 
nous deposerons cette couronne ! Les souffrances que le 
Dr. Kane avait eprouvees dans ces regions inhospitalieres, 
avaient attaque chez lui les sources de la vie, et il a suc- 
combe le 16 fevrier 1856, a l'age de trente-cinq ans. Mais 
la Societe de Geographic ne doit pas laisser dans Poubli 
les beaux travaux qu'il a diriges d'une maniere si intrepide, 
et si nous n'avons pas la satisfaction de lui donner a lui- 
merae la medaille d'honneur, du moins nous la consacrerons 
a sa memoire. 



25 

free passage where, in other years, an immense extent of 
solid ice is found. 



Dr. Kane's labors are not less of great importance in 
giving ns a knowledge of a very remarkable part of the 
north coast of Greenland, and of the lands which face it 
on the west. 

Your commission, therefore, has not hesitated to award 
to him the prize for the most important discovery in the 
year 1855. 

Unhappily, gentlemen, it is upon a tomb which we 
shall deposit this crown. The sufferings which Dr. Kane 
experienced in those inhospitable regions on his return 
home showed themselves in his shattered vital powers. 
He fell a victim on the 16th of February, 1856, at the age 
of thirty-five. But the Geographical Society cannot suffer 
to pass into oblivion the labors which he directed in so in- 
trepid a manner; if we have not the satisfaction of pre- 
senting the medal of honor to him, we shall, at least, con- 
secrate it to his memory. 



ni. 

THE 

MEDAL TO DR. I. I. HAYES 

^fon\ ttje fjoyal Gjeo^kpljidKl $odiety of London,. 



PRESENTATION OF THE ROYAL AWARDS 

i 

OF THE 

ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY, LONDON, 

At the Anniversary Meeting, May 27, 1867.* 



The Patron's Gold Medal, is awarded to Dr. Isaac I. 
Hayes, for his memorable expedition in 1860-'61 towards 
the opeii Polar sea, wherein he attained a more northern 
point of land in Smith's sound (81° 35') than had been 
reached by any previous navigator. 

In presenting the medal, the President, Sir R. I. Mur- 
chison, addressed the Hon. C. F. Adams, Minister of the 
United States, in the following words : 

Mr. Adams : 

Eleven years have elapsed since the Royal Geographical 
Society did honor to itself by awarding a gold medal to 
your highly-distinguished countryman the late Dr. Kane, 
for his discoveries in the Polar regions, while in charge 
of an expedition generously fitted out in the United States 
to search for Sir John Franklin ; and now I rejoice to say 
that I have to ask you, as the representative of the great 

* Journal of Royal Geographical Society for 1867. 

27 



28 



American Republic, to receive the medal of onr patron 
Queen Victoria, which has bee, decerned to another of your 
countrymen Dr. Hayes, for having reached a more norther, 

pzLt^iorlr 1 (81 ° 35,) "■»" e - - -"-' * - v 

Forming one of the previous expedition of the lamented 
Kane, who justly received the applause not only of yonr 
country but of the civilized world Dr. Haves wL J t 
oceasmn the discoverer of a large mass of Z fomtnV he 

fZ.;* ra s ; ore ° { s-yitfi sound, to which ;S 

of Hemy G nnnell, an enlightened citizen of New York 

IttlheTTi? f tlmt «*««*». was most appropriate! 
attached It s for carrying personal observations to a de- 
gree and a half further northward on land than on he pre 
vious occasion, and for having sighted the open Polar sea 

—ion Mm', 8h r// en ? e ^' 8 stait ' f-t as W 
companion, Morton, had done from the eastern or Green- 

dlv aCme /h? T" e ' that ° Ur C0 "" 0il bas ™° ^ er - 
edfy adjudicated to him our patron's medal. 

ihe scientific results of this expedition have been to » 

great extent made known in America, and the Smith sonhm 

tant additions to our acquaintance with the natural historv 
terrestrial magnetism, and meteorology, as we as Y& 
geography of the Arctic regions. ST " le 

In the meantime the unpretending volume of our me 
dalist, entitled the "Open Polar Sea," is wr tten „ so 
clear manly, and attractive a style, as must ZZZ V 
popular among all readers in tL BritillsleTan!, lZl 

navigaten In a ^aZc^nf "? f^ 8 "* " d 
Greenland from Ame^'w^wuS,, fif ^TE^ 

has been reached by the small Ame, can sdioonc „, D, 
Hayes bearing the name of the United Stat '' 

thi^zie h ;c Sbl ifirj i fl ai, ' b t readth r cai>cs of 

skill with which she 1 ,m naled !he «T " S '"i ' e, -' gS ' th ° 
ability with w„ id, oro 4 S# t ^-s ;; l ution ;; ,,d 



29 

overcome, and the rich scientific fruits which were brought 
back, with the loss only of the able Mr. Sonntag who made 
most of the astronomical observations, I may well congrat- 
ulate your Excellency on the success of a voyage which 
will ever be remembered among the many great exploits of 
your countrymen." 

1 have now only to request you to convey this Victoria 
medal to Dr. Hayes, with the. request that he will accept 
it as the strongest proof we can offer of our just apprecia- 
tion of his great merits. 

Mr. Adams replied: 

Mr. President : It gives me great pleasure to be the me- 
dium of presenting to Dr. Hayes the honorable memorial 
which your Societ} T has voted to him for his services in the 
cause of science. It is no part of my province to under- 
take to vaunt any of my countrymen ; but I will say that 
in no part of the world will you find more people who 
watch with greater attention and admiration the brave en- 
terprises for public objects which are undertaken in any 
part of the world. More especially by their natural con- 
nection, in all the essential elements of civilization, with 
this community, their attention is closely drawn to every 
movement which takes place here ; and following the ad- 
miration with which they see what has been done, there 
grows a desire to emulate the same themselves. It has 
been often objected to enterprises of this kind that they can 
lead to nothing — that they are, in their nature, simply ad- 
ventures in quest of things that are impossible. But, Mr. 
President, the same remark might have been made when 
Columbus first undertook his voyage to the West — to what, 
he did not know. He thought he might come out some- 
where in far Cathay; but the result w r as, as often happens 
in life, an unexpected one — and the unexpected turns out 
to be of greaterproportions than anything which had been 
anticipated. Thus it was that America w T as discovered, 
and the influence of that discovery upon the fortunes of the 
world remains yet to be fully measured. And so it has 
been with most of the adventures that have been started 
from the Old World for the discovery of that which was 



30 

unknown. Very often the explorers do not arrive at what 
was anticipated; but then they attain to a great deal which 
was not expected, and which has at the same time proved 
of very great value. And more than that, and greater than 
all, this pursuit has led to the cultivation and development 
of high moral qualities in a class of men who become them- 
selves greater heroes and greater benefactors to the inter- 
ests of the world than most conquerors who have been 
lauded in the pages of history. I therefore, Mr. President, 
accept this medal with great pleasure, and I have no doubt 
that this marked testimony to the merits of one individual 
will be felt not only by him, but by all that class of indi- 
viduals who, at their own cost and expense, carried on his 
enterprise. It will, moreover, stimulate them to repeat 
such efforts in emulation of your countrymen, by which 
•the bounds of science may still further be indefinitely ex- 
tended. 



IV. 

RAPPO R T 

STJK LE 

Concours au prix Annuel pour la decouverte la plus 
importante en Geographie, 1869, 

AU NOM D'UNE COMMISSION COMPOSEE DE 

MM. DAbbadie, D. Avezac, E. Coktambeet, Vivien de Saint-Makten. 

V. A. Malte-Bbun, 

Secretaire Generate honorai/re, rapporteur, 

SOCIETE DE GEOGRAPHIE DE PARIS. 



REPORT 



Tlje Competition fof tl\e Suzuki ffi\e foi< tl]e ino^t 
Important G{eograpl}ical ©i^dovefy, 1869, 

PBESENTED BY THE COMMISSION COMPOSED OF 

Messrs. Ant. D'Abbadie, D' Avezac, E. Cobtambekt, Vivien Saint-Maeten. 

V. A. Malte-Beun, General Honorary Secretary, 

presenting the Beport to 

THE GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY OF PARIS. 



RAPPORT SUR LE CONCOURS AU PRIX ANNUEL 

POTJE LA 

DECOUVERTE la plus IMPORTANTE en GEOGRAPHIE, 

1869, 
SOCIETE DE GEOGRAPHIE, PARIS. 



* * * 

Le Docteur Isaac I. Hayes, qui, il y a huit annees (le 18 
mai 1861), s'est avance jusqu'a 210 lieues geographiques 
(moms de 9 degres) dn pole Nord. C'est le" point le plus 
eleve dans les latitudes arctiques qu'un navigatenr ait 
atteint jusqu'a present. 

Le nom dn docteur Hayes, vous est d'ailleurs deja connu : 
il etait an nombre des hardis marins qui, en 1853, sous la 
conduite du docteur Kane, firent sur V Advance ce memora- 
ble voyage arctique pendant lequel Morton, apres etre par- 
venu jusqu'au cap Independance sous le 80° 40' de latitude 
decouvrit la mer libre polaire an nord du canal Kennedy' 
Dans cette campagne, qui necessita deux hivernages 
(1854-1855) au port Eensselaer par 78° 37' de latitude 
nord, le docteur Hayes avait franchi en traineau, sur la 
glace, le canal Kennedy, et s'etait rendu a la Terre Grin- 
nell. 

De retour dans sa patrie apres la mort du docteur Kane 
Hayes equipa un petit schooner an moyen d'une sous- 
cnption publique (1), dans le but de poursuivre les de- 
couvertes de Kane, et principalement de s'assurer de l'ex- 
istence de la mek libbe polaire. I/administration du Coast- 
Purvey, PL.stitut smithsonien, 1'Academie des sciences 

(1) Notre regrettc doyen, M. de la Koquette, y avait pris part 

32 



REPORT ON THE COMPETITION FOR THE ANNUAL PRIZE 

FOB THE 

MOST IMPORTANT GEOGRAPHICAL DISCOVERY, 

1869, 
GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY OF PARIS. 



Doctor Isaac I. Hayes, eight years ago, (18th May, 1861,) 
advanced within 210 geographical leagues (less than 9 
degrees) of the North Pole. It is the highest point that 
any navigator has, as yet, reached. 

The name of Dr. Hayes is otherwise well known to you ; 
he was among those daring navigators who made in the .Ad- 
vance, under the command of Dr. Kane, in 1853, that re- 
markable Arctic voyage on which Morton, after reaching 
Cape Independence, 80° 40' of latitude, discovered an open 
Polar sea to the north of Kennedy channel. 

On this expedition, which required a residence of two 
winters (1854, 1855) at Port Rensselaer, about 78° 37' N. 
latitude, Doctor Hayes crossed on sledges over the ice of 
Kennedy channel and reached Grinnell land. 

On his return to his country, and after the death of Dr. 
Kane, by the assistance of a public subscription, he fitted 
out a little schooner with the design of further prosecuting 
Kane's discoveries, and chiefly of satisfying himself in re- 
gard to the existence of an open Polar sea. The Coast 
Survey office, the Smithsonian Institution, the Academy 
of Sciences of Philadelphia, and the Museum of Compara- 
tive Zoology of Cambridge, Mass., generously lent him 



34 



de Philadolplue le Musee de zoologio comparee de Cam- 
bridge (Mass.) lui vinrent genereusement en aide, en lui 
fourmssant les instruments d'observation et les moyens de 
con server ses collections. 

Vetted States, U\ etait le „o,„ de son navire, quitta 
Boston e 6 ju.Het 1860; il jangeait a peine 133 tonneaux 
et comptatt qmnze honm.es d'equipage; parmi les eompa- 
gnons de Hayes, il fa„t citer Pastronome Angnstus Sonn- 
tag commandant en second, MM. M'cormiek, H. Dod<,e 
Radchff .Starr et Knerr, q„i prfrent nne part active aux 
travanx de l'expedition. 

tataV^" 00 '' , " ff* L >'™' ik > ■" 1- o6te occiden- 
tal dn Greenland. Le doctenr s'adjoignit dans ce pert 
trois chasseurs esqnimaux, nn interprete danois, et l'on se 
precnra de. attelages de chiens poor les traincaux. En 
quittant Upernavtk, on navigna bientot an milieu de plu- 
sienrs montagnes de glace (ice-berg), dont qnelques-, nes 
mes„ra,entplu 8 de 200 pieds de hanteur au-deslns de la 
mer et nn mille d'etendue; p , n8ieur8 , entratnge6 *£ 
courants sous-marins, allaient en sens contraire de celles 
qne dn,gca,t le vent, de telle sorte qu'il fallait nne contf 
nue lie attenfon et nne bien grande babilete pour conZ 

destcr" 1 ' 6 , •'' aVei ' S . CeS ,MS8eS flotta » tes > <"•«!...„ a 

le lover TT*$* '^"^ * ° ha ^ ™^ de 
le broyer. Le 25 aout, pres dn cap Alexandre, on rencon- 

Lt n a rr: {iee ; Md); en ™ in ie d °^ **» «- 

S' e ,' a f r C,m : et d ° gag " er la c6te oocidentale «« 
Smith-Sound ; ,1 eut a la fois taut a Intter et centre les 

I" xr es f t q - ue le schoo,,er ^ de ^ 

avanes , d a leurs, la temperature etait descendne a- 11° 
cent.grades, ,1 fallait senger a prendre ses qnarticrs d'hiver 

tene, a 10 miles an nord-est dn cap Alexandre Ce fnt 
uansnn pct.t port, qui recut le no,„ de Port-Fou Ike, e„ 



35 

their assistance ; furnishing him instruments for his obser- 
vations and the means of preserving his collections. 



The United States, as his vessel was named, left Boston 
on the 6th of July, 1860 ; its tonnage was scarcely 133, its 
crew but fifteen men. Among Hayes' companions should 
be named the astronomer Augustus Sonntag, second in 
command, and Messrs. M. M. McCormick, H. Dodge, 
Radcliff, Starr, and Knorr, who took an active part in the 
work of the expedition. 

On the 12th of August they reached Upernavik, on 
the western coast of Greenland. At this port the Doctor 
added to his party three Esquimaux hunters and a Danish 
interpreter, and procured a number of dog teams for his 
sledges. After leaving Upernavik the party very soon 
found themselves amongst the icebergs, some of which 
measured more than 200 feet above the sea level, and more 
than a mile in extent. Some of them, carried along by the 
submarine currents, were moving in a direction the oppo- 
site of those bergs which were driven by the wind, so that 
continued watchfulness and great skill were necessary to 
guide the frail vessel among the floating masses, which, 
obeying contrary forces, threatened every instant to crush 
her. On the 25th of August, near Cape Alexander, they 
met an ice field. The Doctor in vain attempted to cross 
it, and to reach the western shore of Smith sound. He 
had at once so much to contend with, both against the wind 
and the ice masses, that the schooner received severe in- 
jury ; besides, as the temperature had fallen to minus 11° 
centigrade, lie was compelled to look for winter quarters. 
The brave navigators found these in Hartstene bay, ten 
miles northeast of Cape Alexander. It was a small har- 
bor, which received the name of Port Foulke, in honor of 



36 

l'honneur d'un des plus genereux protectenrs do l'expedi- 
tion ; il etait situe a 20 milles au sud du port Rensselaer, 
quartier d'hiver de l'expedition du docteur Kane en 1854 
et 1855. 

En vue de l'hiver,on eonstruisit un magasin sur lerivage, 
on y deposa les agres et une parti e du materiel du navire ; 
la cale fut convertie en une grande cliambre pour l'equip- 
age ; le pont, convert d'une toiture, servit de promenoir ; 
les precautions d'hygiene, si importantes a prendre dans 
les raers arctiques, furent rigoureusement observees. Grace 
a ces dispositions, les marins purent passer l'hiver en bonne 
sante, avec un confortable tres-avouable, qu'entreteuaient 
d'ailleurs les abondantes provisions de viande fraiche que 
fournirent les chasseurs ; car les rennes etaient nombreux 
dans le voisinage, et l'on en vit souvent des troupeaux de 
dix a quinze tetes. Les chiens, au nombre de trente, furent 
confies a la garde des Esquimaux ; leur appetit etait tel 
qu'ils devoraient un renne a chaque repas. 

A 1'aTitomne, le docteur Hayes fit avec Aug. Sonntag 
l'exploration d'un glacier voisin. Sur cette mer de glace, 
a une altitude de 1500 metres au-dessus du niveau de 
l'Ocean, nos explorateurs firent une reconnaissance de 70 
milles. Assaillis par une tempete de neige, a demi morts 
de froid, car la temperature descendit jusqu'a 37 degres 
au-clessous de zero, ils purent a grand'peine rejoindre le 
navire. Le docteur Hayes, avec cette opiniatrete que donne 
seul l'amour de la science, avait neanmoins pu relever des 
distances, prendre des angles ; il s'assura plus tard, a 
l'aide de ces mesures, qu'en six mois le glacier avait de- 
scendu vers la mer de 96 piecls, confirmant ainsi sur les 
lieux memes les deductions scientifiques relatives a la con- 
stitution des glaciers emises par Agassiz, Forbes, Tyndall 
et le savant eveque d'Auneey, Mgr. Rendu. 



37 

one of the most liberal patrons of the expedition ; it is 20 
miles south of Rensselaer harbor, the winter quarters of 
Dr. Kane's expedition in 1854 and 1855. 

To prepare for winter, the}'' built a store-house on the 
shore, and placed in it the ship's rigging and a part of the 
ship's stores. The hull was converted into a large room 
for the crew, and the deck, roofed over, served for a place 
of exercise. The precautions for preserving health, which 
are so necessary in Arctic regions, were rigidly observed. 
In consequence of these arrangements, they were enabled 
to pass the winter in good health and with some comfort, 
derived from the abundant fresh meat brought in by the 
hunters ; for reindeer were numerous in the neighborhood, 
herds of ten to fifteen head being often seen. 

Their thirty dogs were entrusted to the care of the 
Esquimaux. The appetite of the dogs was such that they 
would devour a reindeer at a meal. 

In the fall, in company with Aug. Sonntag, Dr. Hayes 
made the exploration of a glacier near them. They 
explored this ice mass for a distance of seventy miles, at 
an elevation of -1,500 metres above the sea level. Beset by 
a snow-storm, and half dead with the cold, (for the ther- 
mometer fell to 37° below zero,) they rejoined the ship 
with great difficulty. 

With the determined perseverance inspired only by the 
love of science, Hayes had been able, nevertheless, to 
measure some distances, to take some angles ; and at a later 
date, by means of these he estimated that in six months 
the glacier had moved down toward the sea ninety-six 
feet, thus confirming in these very regions the scientific 
conclusions in regard to the nature of glaciers advanced by 
Agassiz, Forbes, Tyndall, and the learned Bishop of 
Aunecy, Rendu. 



38 * 

Mais la derniere aurore avait lui ; on fat cent trente 
jours sans voir le soliel (octobre a Janvier), et, pendant 
toute cette longue periocle d'obscurite, l'equipage conserva 
et sa bonne sante et sa bonne humeur; vers le milieu du 
mois de noverabre, le vent, quoique soufflant du nord-est, 
araena une chaleur relative tout a fait extraordinaire. De 
40 degres centigrades au-dessous de zero, le thermometre 
passa brusquement a 20 et demi au-dessous de zero ; c'etait 
une temperature relativement donee. Ce phenomene me- 
teorologique sembla au docteur un presage de l'existence 
d'une mer libre dans la direction du nord-est. 

Vers le milieu de l'hiver, un malheur vint fondre sur la 
petite colonie du Port-Foulke: une maladie epidemique 
enleva plusieurs chiens, et il n'en resta bientot plus que 
neuf. Ce nombre etait desormais insuffisant pour tenter 
toute exploration en traineau ; Sonntag s'ofFrit genereuse- 
ment pour aller en recruter de nouveaux parmi les Esqui- 
maux qu'on savait etre de l'autre cote du cap Alexandre ; 
mais, en suivant la cote il tomba malheureusement dans 
une fissure de la glace. Saisi par le froid avant que la cir- 
culation du sang se fut retablie, il mournt presqne sub- 
itement. Ce fut une grande perte pour l'expedition ; e'en 
est une aussi pour la science, par amour de laquelle Sonn- 
tan s'etait par deuxfois aventure dans les regions polaires. 

Augustus Sonntag avait en effet pris part, en 1853, a 
l'exploration du docteur Kane. C'etait un jeune astron- 
ome plein de merite, et qui savait joindre la theorie a la 
pratique. II l'avait bien prouve, alors, qu'il etait attache 
a 1'observatoire d'Altona; M. Antoine d'Abbadie ayant ob- 
serve en Ethiopie les occultations de quinze etoiles incon- 
nues, il put en faire determiner trois seulement a l'Obser- 
vatoire de Paris, les douze autres le furent par Sonntag. 



39 

But the last daylight was then at hand ; for the following 
one hundred and thirty days, from October to January, 
they were without sight of the sun. Yet, throughout this 
long period of gloom, the company kept up their cheer- 
fulness. 

Toward the middle of November, the wind, though from 
the north, brought them a comparative warmth, which was 
very marked. From 40 degrees centigrade below zero the 
thermometer rose rapidly to 20| below zero, a temperature 
appearing mild. This meteorological phenomenon seemed 
to Dr. Hayes the indication of an open sea in a north- 
easterly direction. 

Toward midwinter misfortune befell the little colony of 
Port Foulke ; an epidemic carried off many of their dogs, of 
which there soon remained but nine — a number altogether 
too small to permit exploration by sledging. 

Sonntag generously offered to go and obtain others from 
among the Esquimaux, who he knew lived on the other 
side of Cape Alexander; but, while following the coast, 
he unfortunately fell into an opening in the ice. Overcome 
by the cold, he died almost immediately, before circulation 
could be restored. This was a great loss to the expedition, 
as well as to science, through love of which Sonntag was 
* a second time an adventurer in these polar regions. 

Augustus Sonntag had taken part in Doctor Kane's 
exploration of 1853. He was a young and highly merito- 
rious astronomer, who knew how to unite theory with 
practice. He had fully proved this when attached to the 
Observatory at Altona. M. Antoine d'Abbadie having 
observed in Ethiopia the occupations of fifteen unknown 
stars, he determined the positions of but three of them at 
the Paris Observatory; those of the other twelve were de- 
termined by Sonntag. 



40 

Pour suivre le doctenr Hayes, il avait quitte line posi- 
tion avantageuse (colle de directenr-adjoint de l'Observa- 
toirc de Dudley, d' Albany). — Que notre sympathique sou- 
venir, franchissant l'espace, aille salner, dans la lugubre 
solitude dn desert polaire, l'humble tombe oil eette nouvelle 
victime de la science dort de le sommeil eternel. 

Ayant enfin obtenu un renfort de chiens d'une tribu 
d'Esquimaux qui etaient venus se fixer dans le voisinage 
du navire, le docteur Hayes se rendit, vers le milieu de 
mars 1861, en traineau, aii port Rensselaer, mais il n'y 
trouva plus aucune trace de V Advance, qui y avait ete 
abandonne par le docteur Kane au mois de mai 1855. 

Pendant cette excursion, la temperature se maintint en 
moyenne a 28 degres centigrades au-dessous de zero; une 
fois meme, elle descendit a — 48 degres; on concha sous 
des fourrures, pele-mele homines et chiens, dans des huttes 
de neige que l'on fermait hermetiquement le soir, et dans 
lesquelles on avait une peine extreme a, entretenir une 
temperature de — 30 degres au-dessous de zero, a l'aide 
d'une lampe alimentee par l'huile de phoque. 

Le 3 avril 1861, le docteur Hayes partit de Port-Foulke 
avec douze hommes, deux attelages de chiens, pour gagner 
la cote occidentale du detroit, le longde laquelle il pensait 
pouvoir s'avancer plus aisement vers le nord. On emme- 
nait un bateau en fer de 20 pieds de longueur, destine a 
naviguer sur la mer libre polaire. Mais, apres trois se- 
maines d'efforts rendus inutiles par l'etat des /nmimoks, 
ou glaces amoncelees, le transport du bateau et d'une 
grande quantite de provisions fut reconnu tout a fait im- 
possible. II arriva, en effet, que, par suite des tours et 
detours qu"il fallait faire parmi les glaces amoncelees, des 
dechargements et des rechargements des traineau x, aux- 
quels il fallait faire franchir certains de ces amas, il arriva 



41 

To accompany Doctor Hayes he bad left the advanta- 
geous position of assistant director of the Dudley Obser- 
vatory, at Albany. Let our sympathetic remembrance, 
unmindful of space, go forth to do homage in the gloomy 
solitude of the Polar waste at the humble tomb in which 
this new victim of science sleeps his perpetual sleep. 

Having at length obtained a reinforcement of dogs from 
an Esquimaux tribe which had come to settle in the neigh- 
borhood of the ship, about the middle of March, 1861, Dr. 
Hayes reached Port Pensselear by sledges ; but he found 
no trace of the Advance, which Dr. Kane had abandoned 
there in May, 1855. 

During this excursion the temperature maintained a 
mean of 28 degrees centigrade below zero ; once indeed 
it descended to 48 degrees ; the} 7 slept under furs, pell-mell, 
men and dogs, in the snow huts which they closed tight 
in the evening and in which they had great difficulty in 
keeping up a temperature of 30 degrees below zero, by the 
help of a lamp fed with seal oil. 

On the 3d of April, 1861, Dr. Hayes set out from Port 
Foulke, with twelve men and two dog teams, to reach the 
western coast of the strait along which he thought he could 
advance more readily toward the north. He took with him 
an iron boat twenty feet long, intended for the navigation 
of the open sea. But after a three weeks' effort, rendered 
useless in consequence of the condition of the hummocks 
or piled up ice masses, the transportation of the boat and 
a large quantity of provisions, was found to be impossible. 

It turned out, in truth, in consequence of the windings 
and returns which he had to make among these piles of 
ice, and of his unloadings and reloadings of the sledges — 
from which lie had to cast off a part of the loads — that, 
after a wearisome day's march of labor and efforts, they 



42 

qu'apres une penible journee clc rnarche, de travaux et 
d'efforts, on avait a peine franehi la distance d'nn kilo- 
metre en ligne droite. 

Le 28 avril, reuvoyant an navire la pins grande partie 
de son monde avec nn des attelages et le bateau, le doc- 
teur Hayes, sou ten n par son inflexible volonte, continua 
l'exploration, ne gardant avec lni que Georges Knorr, 
l'interprete Jansen et le mutelot Mac Donald. Douze jours 
apres, le 11 mai, il atteignit enfin, pres du cap Hawks, la 
Terre Grinnell. On jugera des enormes dinicultes de cette 
traversee du detroit cle Smith, au milieu des glaces, par 
ce seul fait qu'il fallut un mois pour franchir la distance 
de 150 kilometres qui separait Cairn-Point du cap Hawks. 
La temperature avait varie, en plein air, de — 16 a — 27 de- 
gres au-dessous de zero. 

Apres quelques heures de repos, on reprit la route vers 
le nord ; mais comine on ne pouvait songer a s'aventurer 
au milieu du chaos des glaces, force fut de suivre les sinu- 
osites de la cote et de se tenir sur ce qu'on appelle la glace 
de terre. Le 16 mai, Jansen, a bout de forces, dut etre 
abandonne, avec une partie des provisions, aux soins de 
Mac Donald, et le docteur Hayes poursuivit avec George 
Knorr son dangereux voyage ; trois jours apres, le 18 mai, 
il atteignit une grande baie, dont la glace sans consistance 
arreta definitivement ses pas. D'une hauteur voisine, il 
put voir les eaux de cette baie se meler a la mer libre, au 
nord-est du canal Kennedy ; a l'extreme horizon, se pro- 
filaient les flancs blanchis d'un grand promontoire qu'il 
estima etre, environ, par le 82° degre ^ de latitude; il 
lui donna le noin de Cap Union ; c'est la terre la plus 
septentrionale que l'on connaisse aujourd'hui sur le globe ; 
plus pres de l'observateur, une montagne re9ut le nom de 
Churchs' mount, et deux autres caps, qui precedaient le cap 
Union, cenx d'Eugenie et de Frederic VII ; les baics qui 



43 

scarcely made the distance of a kilometer (.62 of a mile) in 
a direct course. 

On the 28th of April, sending back to the ship nearly 
all of his company and retaining with him only Geo. Knorr, 
the interpreter Jansen, and McDonald, a sailor, Dr. Hayes 
renewed his explorations with indomitable determination, 
and on the twelfth day following reached Grinnell land, 
near Cape Hawks. 

The enormous difficulties of this journey from Smith 
strait across the ice-floes may be judged from the single 
fact that .it took one month to make the distance of 150 
kilometers (93 miles) from Cairn Point to Cape Hawks. 
The temperature had ranged in the open air from 16° to 
27° below zero. 

After some rest, the journey to the north was again 
taken up, but, as the route across the chaos of ice masses 
could not be followed, it was necessary to pursue the 
windings of the coast, and to keep upon what they called 
the ice-foot. On the 16th of May, Jansen, through his 
failing strength, was left behind with a part of the provis- 
ions in the care of McDonald; and Dr. Hayes with Knorr 
only pursued his dangerous journey. Three days after, 
he reached a large bay, the ice of which not being firm, 
finally arrested his progress. From a neighboring hill he 
saw the waters of this bay mingling themselves with an 
open sea northeast of Kennedy channel, while on the most 
distant horizon the white sides of a large promontory 
appeared, which he estimated to be about 82° 50' N. lat. 
He named this Cape Union. It is the most northerly 
land as yet known on the globe. Nearer to the observer 
a mountain received from him the name of Church's moun^ 
tain, and two capes which were between him and Cape 
Union, the names of Eugenie and Frederick VII. The 



44 

separaient ces premontoires recurent les appellations <le 
baie Petermann et de baie Wrangel ; enfin le point elcve 
d'ou. le docteur Hayes cut devant ses yeux eette merlibre, 
objet de tant d'efforts, fnt appele Cap Lieber ; il est sitae 
par 81° 35' de latitude et 70° 30' de longitude du meri- 
dien de Greenwich. Hayes y arbora avec une juste fierte, 
que nous lui envious, le pavilion etaile de son pays. 
C'etait une simple flam me de canot, mais elle avait de 
nobles etats de service; en effet, elle avait ete portee dans 
la iner glaciale du Sud, en 1840, lors de l'expedition du 
capitaine Wilkes, puis dans les expeditious polaires du 
capitaine de Haven et du docteur Kane. Ainsi done elle 
avait flotte aussi pres de chaenn des deux poles que l'en- 
ergie humaine Tavait pu porter. 

Apres quelques heures de contemplation d'un spectacle 
que, sans doute, il sera donne a bien pen d'hommes de re- 
voir, le docteur Hayes revint sur ses pas et regagna son 
navire le 3 juin. Dans cette excursion de deux mois, il 
n'avait pas fait moins de 2400 kilometres sur la glace. 
Enfin le 14 juillet 1861, le schooner quittait son port d'hi- 
vernage pour reprendre le chemin des Etats-Unis, et le 23 
octobre il mouillait dans le port de Boston, apres une cam- 
pagne de quinze mois et treize jours. 

En rentrant dans sa patrie, le docteur la trouva en proie 
a la guerre de secession, et lui aussi dut acquitter sa dette 
et se devouer an soulagement des blesses. Cost ce qui 
explique le retard de six annees apporte a la publication 
de la relation de son memorable voyage. Cette publication 
eut lieu en 1867, a la fois aux Etats-Unis et en Angleterre 
ou plusieurs editions en furent rapidement enlevees. Un 
de nos plus laborieux contreres, M. Ferdinand de Laitoye, 
vient d'en donner une consciencieuse traduction, accom- 
pagnee de notes utiles aux lecteurs francais. 

L'an dernier, la Societe royale geographique de Londres 



45 

bays separating these promontories received the names of 
Petermann and Wrangel, and the high point from which 
Dr. Hayes saw the open sea, the object of all his efforts, 
was called Cape Lieber. It is situated in about 81° 35' 
lat, and 70° 30' W. long, from Greenwich. With a just 
pride, of which we envy him, Hayes there planted the 
starry flag of his country. It was a simple boat flag, but 
it had a noble record of services ; for it had been carried in 
the icy South seas in 1840, in the expedition of Capt. 
Wilkes, and afterwards in the polar expeditions of Capt. 
De Haven and Doctor Kane. Thus it had floated as near 
each pole of the globe as human energy could carry it.* 

After observing for some hours a spectacle which doubt- 
less few will ever be again permitted to see, Dr. Hayes 
retraced his steps, and rejoined his ship on the 3d of June. 
On this journey of two months, he had travelled no less 
than 2,400 kilometres (1,490 miles) on the ice. At length, 
on the 14th July, 1861, the schooner left her winter liar 
bor to take the route back to the United States. On the 
23d of October she anchored in the harbor of Boston, 
after a voyage of fifteen months and thirteen days. 

Returning to his country, Doctor Hayes found it in the 
troubles of the secession war; it was necessary for him 
to do his part and devote himself to the care of the suffer- 
ing. Tin's explains the delay of six years in publishing 
the account of his remarkable voyage. It appeared in 1867 
simultaneously in the United States and in England where 
several editions were rapidly issued. One of our most 

* This flag, subsequently used by Hall in the Polaris, and now the prop- 
erty of the family of the late Henry Grinnell, by the courtesy of Mr. K, 
M. Grinnell is on exhibition, with other relics of Arctic explorations, at the 
International Exhibition, Philadelphia, Government' Building. {May 10, 
1876.] 



46 

decernait an docteur Isaac J. Hayes, l'une de ses medailles 
d'or : si les suffrages de notre puissante emule out precede 
ceux de la Societe de geographic de Paris, c'est que cette 
derniere, tout eu reservant les droits de l'intrepide explo- 
rateur, a voulu les juger pieces eu main, c'est-a-dire que, 
fidele a son reglement, elle a voulu attendre la publication 
des resultats de ce voyage arctique. Aujourd'hui nous 
les possedons, votre Commission des prix les a eus sous 
les yeux, ils ont ete publies par ordre de l'Institut smith- 
sonien, par les soins de M. Charles A. Schott, qui s'est 
charge de reunir, de coordonner, de calculer les obser- 
vations. 



Yous avez deja, pu juger, par la rapide esquisse que je 
viens de vous presenter, de l'importance de l'exploration 
du docteur Ilaj'es au point de vue purement geographique ; 
an point de vue astronomique : 18 positions ont ete deter- 
miners en latitude ou en longitude ; elles permettront de 
rectifier et de completer la carte du Smith-Sound et du 
canal Kennedy; des observations magnetiques out ete 
faites sur 14 points quant a la declinaison, et sur 6 points 
quant a l'inclinaison de l'aiguille aimantee. II a ete dresse 
des tables de temperature diurnes, mensuelles, annuelle au 
portFoulke; dans sept stations differentes de la route par- 
courue du port Foulke au cap Union, on a, pendant le mois 
de mai, recueilli les temperatures diurnes pour les com- 
parer a celles de la station principale de Port-Foulke, enfin 
de nombreuses observations relatives a la pression l>aro- 
metrique, a l'intensite magnetique, aux marees, a la direc- 
tion des vents, complement cette ample moisson scientifiijiie. 
Ajoutons que plusieurs caisses contenant les collections 



47 

industrious colleagues, Mr. Ferdinand de Lauoye, has just 
given us a faithful translation, accompanied by useful 
notes for French readers. 

Last year the Royal Geographical Society of London 
awarded to Doctor I. I. Hayes one of its gold medals ; if 
the suffrages of our powerful rival have preceded those of 
the Geographical Society of Paris, it is because our Society, 
faithfully guarding the rights of the intrepid explorer, has 
preferred to judge of them when more fully brought before 
it ; that is to say, faithful to its rules, it has awaited 
the publications of the results of this Arctic exploration. 
To-day we have them ; your commission on prizes has had 
them under its eyes ; they have been published by the 
Smithsonian Institution, under the supervision of Mr. 
Chas. A. Schott, who has had the charge of combining, ar- 
ranging, and reducing the observations. 

You are able to judge by the rapid outline I have now 
presented the importance of the exploration of Dr. Hayes, 
considered from a purely geographical point of view. Con- 
sidered from an astronomical stand-point, 18 positions in 
latitude or longitude have been determined, which enable 
us to rectify and complete our map of Smith sound, and 
of Kennedy channel. Some magnetic observations have 
been secured on 14 points of declination and on 6 points 
of the dip of the magnetic needle. The expedition has en- 
abled us to prepare daily, monthly, and annual tables of 
temperature for Port Foulke ; while at seven different sta- 
tions on the line from Port Foulke to Cape Union daily 
temperatures were observed during the month of May in 
order to compare them with those of the principal station 
at Port Foulke; finally, numerous observations of barom- 
etric pressure, and magnetic intensity, of the tides, and of 
the course of the winds, complete the ample scientific har- 
vest. 



48 

d'histoire naturelle out ete deposees aux musees de Phila- 
delphie et de Cambridge. Tels sont les resultats qui ont 
fixe, sur l'exploration arctique du docteur Isaac I. Hayes, 
l'attention de votre Commission des prix, et ont designe ee 
hardi pionnier de la navigation arctique a ses suffrages ; 
anssi lui decerne-t-elle une medaille d'or. 



De ce voyage, on peut deduire un enseignement bien 
important pour les explorateurs arctiques qui seraient 
tentes de suivre la voie du Smith-Sound. 

En ramenant son equipage en bonne sante, le docteur 
Hayes a demontre : 

1° Que l'hiver arctique n'engendre pas nece&sairement 
le scorbut et le mecontentement ; 

2° Qu'on peut vivre dans les parages arctiques qu'il a 
atteints sans le secours de la mere-patrie, a l'aide de la 
chasse et de la peche; 

3° Qu'on peut etablir a Port-Foulke une station qui se 
suffirait et qui servirait de base a des explorations eten- 
dues ; 

4° Qu'avec un fort navire on peut traverser le detroit de 
Smith et deboucher directement dans la liier Polaire ; 

6° Que la mer libre du pole existe, du moins au nord 
du canal Kennedy. 

Avec cette perseverance louable qui appartient a tons 
les homines que domineune grande idee, le docteur Hayes 
n'a pas renonce a toute esperance de naviguer un jour sur 
la mer libre du pole. 



49 

We should add that several chests of collections in 
natural history have been put in the care of the museums 
of Philadelphia and Cambridge. 

Such results have fixed the attention of your Prize Com- 
mission on the Arctic expedition of Dr. Hayes. They 
have marked out to them this hardy pioneer of Arctic nav- 
igation for their suffrages ; the gold medal is, therefore, 
awarded to him. 

From this voyage we may draw very important instruc- 
tion for Arctic explorers who will hereafter venture to 
follow up this route by Smith's sound. 

By bringing safe home his party in good health, Dr. 
Hayes has proved : 

1. That the Arctic winter does not necessarily engender 
the scurvy — and discontent. 

2. That one may live in the Polar regions which have 
been reached by hunting and fishing, without assistance 
from his mother country. 

3. That a station might be established at Port Poulke 
which would sustain itself, and serve as the base of ex- 
tended explorations. 

4. That a strong ship could pass up Smith sound, and 
enter directly into the Polar open sea. 

5. That an open Polar sea exists at least to the north of 
Kennedy channel. 

With the laudable perseverance which belongs to every 
man who is governed by a grand idea, Dr. Hayes has not 
given up the hope that he himself will yet sail on this 
open sea under the Pole. 



ALLOCUTION de M. LE GENERAL DIX, 

Ministre des Etats-Unis en France. 



Apres avoir recu, des mains du President de la Societe 
de geographie, la medaille d'or decernee an doctenr J. J. 
Hayes, de New York, le general Dix, ministre des Etats- 
Unis en France, a prononce l'allocntion snivante : 

Monsieur le president, 

J'ai assiste avec un vif interet a la lecture du compte 
rendu, fait par votre secretaire, des decouvertes du docteur 
Hayes dans les regions aretiques, et je m'empresserai de 
faire parvenir entre les mains de mon compatriote dis- 
tingue, la medaille que votre Societe a en la bonte de lui 
decerner. La solution du probleme de l'existence, dans la 
region polaire, d'une mer ouverte que l'on pent atteindre 
par la navigation, probleme qu'il a tache de resoudre et 
dans lequel il a fait des progres si remarquables, est encore 
reservee pour les travaux d'autres personnes entreprenan- 
tes et savantes ; il faut esperer que l'expedition francaise, 
que l'on prepare sous la direction de M. Lambert, portera 
des fruits encore plus precieux. 

II est possible que ces recherehes soulevent une question 
semblable a celle qui nous a agites a l'egard des sommets 
des plus hautes montagnes, qu'elles nous apprennent a 
quelles conditions la vie humaine pent etre conservee sons - 



ADDRESS OF GENERAL DIX, 

United States Minister to France, 
(On receiving the Medal awarded to Dr. Hayes.) 



After having received from the hands of the President 
of the Geographical Society the gold medal awarded to 
Dr. I. I. Hayes, of New York, General Dix, United States 
minister to France, made the following address : 

Me. President: I have followed with deep interest 
the reading of the report made by your secretary on the 
discoveries of Dr. Hayes in the Arctic regions, and I will 
hasten to place in the hands of my distinguished fellow- 
countryman the medal your Society has had the goodness 
to award to him. 

The solution of the problem of the existence at the Pole 
of an open sea accessible by navigation — a problem yet un- 
solved, and in which such remarkable progress has been 
made — is still reserved for the labors of other enterprising 
and scientific men ; we may hope that the French expedi- 
tion now preparing under the direction of M. Lambert will 
bear yet more precious fruit. 

It is possible that these investigations may raise a ques- 
tion like that exercised in regard to the summits of the 
highest mountains, and may teach us under what conditions 
human life may be preserved in those rigorous climates ; 



52 

ces cliraats rigoureux ; ou si la nature y a cache les secrets 
de l'existence organique sous des voiles de glace, que 
l'homme ne doit jamais penetrer. 

Dans ces recherches, comme dans tons les travaux de la 
science, c'est un grand bonheur que son empire, comme 
vous l'avez dit, monsieur le president, soit sans bornes, 
que ses disciples ne reconnaissent aucune limite nationale, 
que le seul but de tous ses efforts et de toutes ses oeuvres 
soit de porter les armes victorieuses du savoir et de la ve- 
rite dans le domaine de l'ignorance et de l'erreur. 

Permettez-moi de dire, monsieur le president, en reponse 
a votre discours l'ouverture de la seance et aux sentiments 
amicaux que vous avez eu la bonte d'exprimer envers mon 
paj^s, que c'est un vrai plaisir pour moi et mes concitoyens 
de voir la France et les Etats-Unis cooperant, selon leur 
amitie traditionnelle, dans ces questions ; et je puis vous 
assurer que votre Societe, en temoignant son approbation 
des travaux de deux de mes compatriotes, le docteur Kane 
et le docteur Hayes, par des marques si honorables, a 
merite a juste titre notre reconnaissance. 



53 

or whether nature there conceals under her ice-coverings 
secrets of organic existence which man can never fathom. 

In these explorations, as in all scientific labors, it is a 
great happiness, Mr. President, that science, as you have 
said, knows no boundaries ; that her disciples recognize no 
national lines; that the sole end of all her efforts, of all her 
labors, is to bear the victorious arms of knowledge and 
truth into the domain of ignorance and error. 

Permit me to say, Mr. President, in reply to your re- 
marks at the opening of this session, and to the amicable 
sentiments so kindly expressed by you towards my country, 
that it is a sincere pleasure to myself and fellow-citizens to 
see France and the United States, in accordance with their 
traditional friendships, co-operating in these investigations 
and I can assure you that your Society, in manifesting its 
approbation of the labors of two of my countrymen, Dr. 
Kane and Dr. Hayes, by such honorable testimonial, has 
justly merited our gratitude. 



VI. 

THE ROQUETTE MEDAL TO HALL. 



RAPPORT 

SUB LE 

Concours au prix Annual fait a la Societe de 
Geographie 

Dans sa seance clu 21 avril, 1875, 

AU NOM D'UNE COMMISSION COMPOSEEE DE 

MM. Delesse, Vivien de Saint-Maetin, E. Coetambeet, Maunoib, 

Gbandidiee, Duveybieb, V. A. Malte-Beun, Vice-President 

de la Commission centrale, rapporteur. 



REPORT 



ON 



The Competition, iot tl]e Signal Pi'i^e n\ade to the 
(^eogfaphic^l 0o&ety of Pkrig 

At its Session of April 21, 1875, 

IN THE NAME OF A COMMISSION COMPOSED OF 

Messrs. Delesse, Vivien de Saint-Maetin, E. Coetambeet, Mauniob, 
Gbandidiee, Dttveyeieb, V. A. Malte-Bbun, Vice-President 

of the Central Commission, frU*4-&n>*&y «*s£C"/v«^**rv 



REPORT SUR LE CONCOURS AU PRIX ANNUEL 

FAIT A LA 

SOCIETE DE GEOGRAPHIE 

Dans sa seance du 21 avril, 1875. 



Nous avions a decerner, cette annee, le prix bisannuel, 
consaere aux explorations arctiques que M. Alexandre de 
la Roquette a fonde pour honorer la memoire de son re- 
grette pere,l'un de nos fondateurs, qui, pendant quarante-six 
ans,fut si devoue aux interets de la Societe de Geographic 
La Commission des prix s'est trouvee en presence de plus- 
ieurs entreprises qui ont eu soit le Smith-Sound, soit le 
Groenland oriental, soit le Spitzberg, soit enfin la Novelle- 
Zemble pour objeetif. Toutes meritent des eloges ; mais 
l'unc surtout, celle du Polaris, navire sur lequel l'Ameri- 
cain Francis Hall, s'est avance au dela du Smith-Sound et 
du canal Kennedy jusqu'au 82° 16', c'est-a-dire, le plus 
pres du pole qu'aucun navire ait atteint sous voiles, a plus 
particulierement merite l'unanimite des suffrages des mem- 
bres de la Commission. 

Le capitaine C. F. Hall etait d'ailleurs un des veterans 
des expeditions arctiques. II exercait a, Cincinnati, dans 
l'Ohio, l'etat de graveur lorsqu'en 1850 il se prit de pas- 
sion pour les explorations a la recherche de Franklin, qui 
etaient alors dans toute leur terveur. Laissant de cote le 
burin, il consacra tons ses loisirs a, Fetude des contrees de 
rAmerique polaire. II eut d'abord l'intention de prendre 
part, sur un navire monte par lui, a la memorable expedi- 
tion de Mac Clintock, mais il s'y prit trop tanl. Au retour 



5G 



KEPORT on the COMPETITION for the ANNUAL PRIZE ; 

MADE TO TfiE 

GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY OF PARIS 

At its Session of April 21, 1875. 



We are, this year, to award the biennial prize for Arctic 
exploration which Mr. Alexander de la Roquette founded 
to honor the memory of his lamented father, one of the 
founders of the Geographical Society, and for forty years 
devoted to its interests. 

The Prize Commission finds itself called upon to ex- 
amine several enterprises which have had for their object 
either the exploration of Smith's sound, of Eastern Green- 
land, of Spitsbergen, or of Nova-Zembla. All of these 
deserve our praise ; but one of them, that of the Polaris, 
the ship on which the American, Francis Hall, passed up 
Smith's sound and Kennedy channel as far as 82° 16' — 
that is to say, the nearest to the Pole that any vessel has 
reached tinder sail — has particularly merited the unani- 
mous suffrage of the members of this Commission. 

Captain C. F. Hall was, besides, one of the veterans in 
Arctic expeditions. In the year 1850, while carrying on 
the business of an engraver, at Cincinnati, Ohio, he was 
seized with the desire to take part in the expeditions (then 
so popular) sent out to search for Franklin. Laying aside 
his graving tools, he devoted all his leisure hours to the 
study of the Polar regions of America. At first, he de- 
signed to take part in the memorable expedition of Mc- 
Clintock, in a vessel furnished by himself; but he was too 

57 



58 

du raarin anglais, il crut que tout n'etait pas dit sur la des- 
tinee des marins de l'expedition de Franklin, et pour ap- 
profondir ce mystere, il resolut d'organiser une nouvelle 
expedition ; il sut interesser a son pro jet d'honorables 
personnages, entre autres, Henri Grinnell, dont la philan- 
thropie etait bien connue, et en 1869, il partait de New- 
London sur le baleinier Georges-Henri. La perte de son 
navire l'empecha d'accomplir son voyage projete dans 
l'ouest, mais il retrouva des traces tres-interessantes de 
^expedition de Frobisher, qui, trois siecles auparavant, 
avait, par ordre de la reine Elisabeth, visite ces contrees ; 
et il s'assura, entre autres reseignements geographiques, que 
ce que nos cartes marquaient comrae un detroit sous le 
nom d'Entree de Frobisher, n'etait qu'une longne baie 
fermee, sans communication avec la baie on la mer 
d'Hudson. 

De retour aux Etats-Unis en septembre 1862, il pnblia 
le resultat de ses recherches dans un livre qui eut un grand 
succes : La vie par mi les .Esquimaux (1 .) Mais, pris d'une 
espece de nostalgie pour une contree qui pourtant n'avait 
rien d'attrayant pour un homme habitue a la vie comfort- 
able des grandes villes, il reprit, en 1861, avec deux Esqui- 
maux, Joe et Hannah, ses fideles eompagnons, la route des 
terres glacees. Pendant cinq annees consecutives, il ex- 
plora les cotes septentrionales de la baie d'Hudson, vivant 
avec les Esquimaux, et, comme eux, de viande crue et 
d'huile de phoque. II se perfectionna dans la connais- 
sance de leur langue, de leurs mceurs, de leurs traditions, 
et, lorsqu'il revint dans sa patrie en 1869, il etait admira- 
blement prepare pour sa grande expedition an pole, but 
supreme de ses constants efforts. 

II s'occupa bientot de l'orgsmiser ; et, bien que ses amis 
le detournassent de cette hasardeuse entreprise, il s'adressa 



(1) Life with Esquimaux, 2 vol. petit in-8°. Londres, 18fi4. 



59 

late for this. On the return of the English captain, he still 
thought that the whole story of the fate of the officers of 
Franklin's expedition had not been told. To solve the 
mystery, he resolved to organize a new expedition, and 
succeeding in interesting honorable gentlemen, among whom 
was Mr. Henry Grinnell, the well-known philanthropist, he 
set out from New London, in 1860, in the whaling ship 
George Henry. 

The loss of his own boat prevented him from completing 
the proposed journey westward ; but he found very inter- 
esting traces of Frobisher's expedition, which three centu- 
ries before visited that region, by order of Queen Elizabeth. 
And he discovered, among other geographical determina- 
tions, that what our maps had been marking as Frobisher 
straits is a long, open bay, without any communication with 
the inland sea or bay of Hudson. 

On his return to the United States, in September, 1862, 
he published the results of his researches in a work, which 
met with great success — his "Life with the Esquimaux." 
But, being seized with a kind of homesickness for a country 
which could have no attraction to one accustomed to the 
comforts of eity^ life, in 1864 he returned to the Polar 
regions with his faithful companions, the two Esquimaux, 
Joe and Hannah. For live successive years he explored 
the western shores of Hudson's bay, living among the 
Esquimaux and sharing their raw meat and seal-oil. He 
made himself thoroughly acquainted with their language, 
customs, and traditions, and was thus admirably prepared 
for his great northern expedition to the Pole, the high 
purpose of all his efforts. 

Very promptly he busied himself in organizing it, and 
when friends would have turned him aside from this, he 
laid his memorial before Congress to obtain the assistance 



60 

au Congres afin d'obtcnir l'appui du gouvernement ameri- 
cain. En attendant une reponse, il vecut, avec sa petite 
famille d'Esquimaux, de, conferences qu'il donna sur ses 
precedents voyages. La decision, a cause des circonstances 
politiques d'alors, se fit longtemps attendre ; il eprouva 
meme, parait-il, plus d'un desappointement dans le cours 
de ses demarches et de ses solli citations. II a raconte lui- 
meme qu'il retrempait alors son courage dans une etude 
assidue de la vie de Cliristophe Colomb, et que l'exemple 
de l'illustre navigateur le fortifia plus fl'une fois dans sa 
perseverante resolution. 

II obtint enfin qu'on lui abandonnat un des navires de- 
meures sans emploi depnis la tin de la guerre de secession ; 
e'etait un remorqueur de 400 tonneaux : il l'amenagea pour 
le rendre propre a la rude navigation a travers les glaces, 
et le baptisa du nom significatif de Polaris. 

Je ne vous retracerai pas les terribles epreuves de la 
perilleuse campagne dn Polaris, jnsqu'au point extreme 
qu'il lui a ete donne d atteindre, la mort de Francis Hall, 
son chef d'expedition, la derive d'une partie de l'eqnipage 
sur une glace, tandis que l'antre se voyait forcee d'aban- 
donner le navire, et ne parvenait qii'au prix de mille dan- 
gers a, rejoindre sa patrie. Notre seci»etaire general vons 
a fait connaitre ces tristes details dans ses Pap-ports aniiu- 
els justement apprecies de nous tons (1.) 



(1) Voir 1' Annual Eeport of the secretary of the navy, for the year 1873, 
n° 18. Polaris investigation. Washington, 1873. 

Voir le Rapport de 1873 et la carte qui l'accompagne au Bulletin de 
1874.— Voir le Rapport de 1874 au Bulletin de 1875. 

Voir V Annie geographique de M. Vivien de Saint-Martin : Aunee 1873, 
pages 371 a 379. 

Voir: Histoire des progres de la geographie. de 1857 a 1874, par E. Cor- 
tambert, p. 87 a 92. 

Voir la Revue maritime et coloniale, de septembre 1874. Resinne du 
Voyage du Polaris^ extrait du Smithsonian Institute, par M. le capitaine de 
fregate Domezon. 



61 

of the American Government, and while waiting for their 
action he sustained himself and his Esquimaux friends by 
lectures upon the explorations of his preceding voj'ages. 
The action of Congress was delayed by political causes. 
He met with more than one disappointment in the course 
of his appeals. He tells us that at this time he took new 
courage in the careful study of the life of Columbus, the 
example of the illustrious navigator more than once strength- 
ening his persevering resolves. 



At length he obtained the use of a vessel which had been 
laid up since the war of the secession ; a tug of 400 tons ; 
he secured its being fitted for the rough voyage among the 
ice floes, and christened "it with the significant name, the 
Polaris. 

I will not repeat to you the fearful proofs of the perilous 
voyage ; the extreme point which the Polaris was enabled 
to reach; the death of her captain; the drifting away of 
one party on the ice,* and the forced abandonment of the 
ship by the other party, who reached their country after 
exposure to a thousand dangers.* Our general secretary 
has given an account of these sad details in the annual 
reports which we all so highly appreciate.! 



* The boats in which these parties were found and rescued, the one party 
by the sealing steamer Tigress, the other by the Scotch whaler Ravenscraig, 
are at the International Exhibition, May, 1876. 

t Report of the Secretary of the Navy, for the year 1873, Nov. 18. Polaris 
investigation. Washington, 1873. 

Report of 1873 and map accompanying the Bulletin of 1874. See Re- 
port of 1874 in the Bulletin of 1875. 

" The Geographical Year," by V. de St. Martin, pp. 371-379. 

History of the Progress of Geography for 1857-1874. E. Cortambert- 

Maritime and Colonial Review, September, 1874. Refcurne of voyage of 
Polaris, from Smithsonian Institute, by captain of frigate Domezon. 



62 

Je rappellerai seulement les resultats scientifiques de 
l'expedition ; ils sout considerables. Le Polaris, nous 
l'avons dit, en atteignant le 82°16' de latitude, est, jusqu'a 
present, le navire qui s'est le plus approche du pole, a 
moms de 194 lieues. On a reconnu et decouvert plus de 
700 milles de cotes; il est aujourd'hui avere que le canal 
Kennedy se continue an dela du cap Constitution, point 
extreme atteint par Kane en 1851 ; sur sa droite s'ouvre 
une autre entree, le canal Robeson (1,) que traverse de 
l'est a, l'ouest un courant tres-sensible ; d'une hauteur 
voisine du point ou l'on hiverna," on vit la terre s'etendre 
au loin jusqu'au dela, du 84 e degre. La temperature etait 
sensiblement moins rigoureuse que plusieurs degres plus 
au sud ; et la vie animale se tradnisit par la presence de 
nombreux troupeaux de bceur's musques, de beaucoup de 
lievres et d'animaux. Le docteur E. Bessels, chef scienti- 
fique de l'expedition, auquel revient une bonne part de ces 
nouvelles acquisitions, avait etabli des le commencement 
de l'hivernage de 1871-72, dans la baie qui a recu le nom 
du navire (par 81° 38',) un observatoire, sur une eminence, 
a 12 metres au-dessus du niveau de la mer ; il y lit de nora- 
breuses observations astronomiques pour en determiner la 
position; de plus on obtint des observations magnetiques, 
meteorologiques, geologiques, botaniques et zoologiques ; 
on observa aussi le pendnle ponr determiner la pesanteur. 
La flore, la faune, de la Terrre de Hall, c'est le nom qui 
a ete donne au prolongement de la Terre Grinnell et de la 
Terre de Washington vers le nord, sont assex riches ; on 
recontra huit especes de mammiferes, vingt-trois sortes 
d'oiseaux, quinze especes d'insectes, dix-sept especes de 
plantes. Yons en trouverez renumeration dans la lettre 

(1) II re^ut le nom de l'honorable Georges M. Kobeson, secretaire de 
l'Amirautc des Etat-lTnis, qui avait pris une importante part dans l'orga- 
nisation de l'exp6dition. 



63 

I will only notice the scientific results of the expedition. 
They are valuable. The Polaris, we have said, reached 
the latitude of 82° 16'; she is, therefore, the ship which, 
as yet, has made the nearest approach to the Pole by 
at least 194 leagues. More than 700 miles of coast line 
have been discovered or recognized. It is now known that 
Kennedy channel extends beyond Cape Constitution, the 
highest point reached by Kane ; on the right, another 
strait, Robeson,* opens, and has a very perceptible current 
flowing from east to west. From the summit of an eleva- 
tion near where the party wintered, the land was seen 
extending as far north as the 84th degree. The tempera- 
ture was much less severe here than it was at a point several 
degrees further south ; and animal life showed itself by the 
presence of the numbers of the musk ox, hares, and other 
animals. 

Doctor Bessels, the chief of the scientific corps, to which 
the larger part of these acquisitions is to be credited, es- 
tablished at his winter quarters, 1871— '72, in the bay named 
from the ship, (81° 38',) an observatory on an elevation 12 
metres above the sea level, and made a number of astro- 
nomical observations to determine its position; making, 
also, magnetic, meteorological, geological, botanical, and 
zoological investigations. He also observed with the pen- 
dulum for gravity. 

The flora and fauna of Hall land, the name given to the 
prolongation of Grinnell land and of Washington land, 
towards the north, are quite rich. There are found eight 
species of mammals, twenty-three of birds, fifteen of insects, 
and seventeen of plants. The enumeration of these will 

* Named in honor of Hon. George M. Robeson, Secretary of the Navy, 
U. S., who had taken an active part in organizing the expedition. 



64 

que M. le docteur E. Bessels a adressee, a la date du 19 
juillet 1874, a notre secretaire general et qui a ete inseree 
au Bulletin de mars 1875. 

En presence de ces resultats, votre Commission des prix 
a juge devoir attribuer a Francis Hall, le promoteur et le 
chef de l'expedition du Polaris, que recommandaient d'ail- 
leurs ses services passes, la medaille d'or de la fondation 
de la Roquette. . . . Mais Francis Hall, com me dix-sept 
ans auparavant son compatriote Kane, a succombe a la 
peine, et c'est sur un tombeau que nous devons cette Ibis 
encore deposer une couronne. Si nous n'avons pas la sat- 
isfaction de remettre a Francis Hall la medaille que nous 
lui deceruons, nous aurons du moins cette derniere conso- 
lation de l'adresser a sa famille. Elle ira temoigner, par 
dela les mers, que la mort meme ne saurait arreter le juste 
temoignage de votre reconnaissance pour les services rendus 

a la science geographique. 

* * . * * * * * 

La Commission des prix accorde cette anne : 

La medaille d'or de la fondation de la Roquette a l'ex- 

plorateur arctique Francis Hall, medaille qui sera remise 

a la famille de l'infortune voyag;eur. 



65 

be found in the letter from Dr. Bessels to our general sec- 
retary, dated July 19, 1874, and published in the Society's 
bulletin of March, 1875. 

In view of these results, your Prize Commission has 
judged it to be their duty to award to Francis Hall, the 
promoter and chief of the Polaris expedition, that which is 
otherwise due to him for his previous labors, the gold 
medal of the Roquette foundation. * * * But Francis 
Hall, like his fellow-countryman Kane, has succumbed to 
misforture, and lies in the tomb on which we must again 
lay down a crown. If we have not the pleasure of giving 
to Francis Hall the medal which we have awarded to him, 
we will have at least this last consolation of transmitting 
it to his family. It will bear witness across the seas that 
death itself could not arrest the just testimony by which 
you acknowledge services rendered to geographical science. 



ADDEN DA. 
Testimonials in the United States. 



Extract from the Report of the Committee on the Library, 
House of Representatives, United States, April 16, 1856. 

Mr. Tyson, from the Committee on the Library, made 
the following report : 

The.,Committee on the Library, to whom were referred 
the preamble and resolutions adopted by the House on the 
11th March, submit the following report: 

The preamble expresses the high sense entertained by 
the House of Representatives of the services performed by 
Dr. Kane during his late search after Sir John Franklin 
in the Arctic regions. * * * 

They recommend the adoption of the following resolu- 
tions : 

"Resolved, &c. That the Committee on the Library be 
authorized to purchase for the public use 15,000 copies of 
a forthcoming work by Dr. E. K. Kane, of the Arctic Ex- 
pedition during the years 1853-'54:-'55, in search of Sir 
John Franklin, to be distributed among members of Con- 
gress. * * * 

"2. Resolved, That the Secretary of the Navy shall 
cause to be struck and presented to Dr. Kane, his officers 
and men, respectively, such appropriate medals as in the 
judgment of said Secretary shall express the high estimate 
in which Congress holds their respective merits and serv- 
ices." * 



* Unfortunately these resolutions provided for no appropriation to carry 
them into effect. 

67 



Resolutions of the Legislature of the State of Pennsylvania. 

Whereas, Dr. Elisha Kent Kane, a citizen of the State 
of Pennsylvania, by his explorations and discoveries in 
the Arctic regions, and by the energy, intrepidity, per- 
severance, and other qualities exhibited by him in con- 
ducting the recent expedition under his command, has 
not only made valuable additions to human knowledge, 
but has attested the benevolence which prompted and the 
skill which guided said expedition, in such manner as to 
call forth official acknowledgments and honorable men- 
tion from foreign governments : Therefore, be it 

Resolved, That the Senate and House of Representa- 
tives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania do also rec- 
ognize the services rendered by said expedition, and the 
gallant conduct displayed in its management, and do 
hereby tender their thanks to Dr. Kane, and to the officers 
and crew under his command. 

JResolved, That we concur with the Secretary of the 
Navy in commending the results of these explorations as 
worthy the attention and patronage of the Government. 
And further, That the Governor be requested to transmit a 
copy of these resolutions to Dr. Kane, his officers, and 
to the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States. 

The resolutions were unanimously adopted by the 
Senate and House of Representatives. 



Resolutions of the House of Assembly of the State of New 

Jersey. 

Whereas, it has long been a proverb that republics are 
ungrateful, it behooves this great sisterhood of republics, 
of which New Jersey claims to be a worthy member, to 
use her best endeavors for the removal of the stigma, by 
yielding appropriate honor to those who have deserved 
well of our common country by their courage, research, 
or enlightened enterprise: Therefore, be it 

Resolved by the Senate and General Assembly of the 
State of JVeiv Jersey, That in the conduct and manage- 
ment of the Arctic expedition under the command of Dr. 
E. K. Kane, of the United States Navy, which has re- 
cently returned to our waters, after a cruise and journey 
of. scarcely paralleled hardships, and with curious and im- 
portant results, we see the lofty virtues united in a degree 
that adds rich lustre to the previous fame of the adventur- 
ous leader and his undaunted coadjutors, while reflecting 
itself with undiminished splendor upon our national flag; 
that whether we regard the chivalrous benevolence that 
prompted the expedition, or the private magnificence that 
facilitated its departure, the far-sighted philosophy that 
predicted its chief results, the patient endurance of un- 
heard-of cold and starvation, or the masterly arrangement 
that successfully effected the principal scientific object 
with so small a sacrifice of life and limb, we find on every 
hand those proofs of worth and energy which give dignity 
to human nature and call for the thankful acknowledg- 
ment of our species. 

Resolved, That by fixing the northern boundary of 
Greenland, Dr. Kane has finally determined the detach- 
ment of this continent and its dependencies from the Old 



70 

World, in territory as in institutions ; and, by discovering 
an open circumpolar sea, he has completed the knowledge 
necessary to a proper theory of the great currents of the 
ocean, of which the future importance cannot be estimated 
in the present age. 

Resolved, That New Jersey fully unites with his native 
State in doing honor to the conqueror of the icy barrier 
of the North, and hopes that, under God, he may live 
long to win yet other victories in the field of peace and 
science. 

Resolved, That the Governor of this State be requested 
to send copies of the above resolutions to the President 
of the United States, the patron of the expedition, and to 
Dr. E. K. Kane and officers. 



